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Hellfire: Evelyn Waugh and the Hypocrites Club
Late one evening in March 1924, a tipsy young nun was seen trying to slip into Balliol, an all-male Oxford college, just as the gates were about to close for the night.
The nun – subsequently unmasked as the son of the college bursar – was returning after a fancy-dress party at a notorious Oxford social club, one known to the university proctors for its hedonistic ways, heavy drinking and wayward behaviour. This was the final straw; the club was shut down.
Described by one habitué as ‘a kind of early twentieth-century Hell Fire Club’, the Hypocrites Club counted some of the brightest of the future ‘Bright Young People’ among its members. The one-time secretary was Evelyn Waugh, who used ten of his fellow Hypocrites as inspiration for his fictional characters – seven of them in Brideshead Revisited alone.
The Hypocrites didn’t just lend themselves to Waugh’s fiction. Many went on to prominence themselves, including Anthony Powell, Robert Byron, Henry Green, Claud Cockburn and Tom Driberg.
Hellfire is the first full-length portrait of this scandalous club and its famous members, who continued to be thorns in the Establishment’s side – throughout war and austerity – for the next five decades.
The nun – subsequently unmasked as the son of the college bursar – was returning after a fancy-dress party at a notorious Oxford social club, one known to the university proctors for its hedonistic ways, heavy drinking and wayward behaviour. This was the final straw; the club was shut down.
Described by one habitué as ‘a kind of early twentieth-century Hell Fire Club’, the Hypocrites Club counted some of the brightest of the future ‘Bright Young People’ among its members. The one-time secretary was Evelyn Waugh, who used ten of his fellow Hypocrites as inspiration for his fictional characters – seven of them in Brideshead Revisited alone.
The Hypocrites didn’t just lend themselves to Waugh’s fiction. Many went on to prominence themselves, including Anthony Powell, Robert Byron, Henry Green, Claud Cockburn and Tom Driberg.
Hellfire is the first full-length portrait of this scandalous club and its famous members, who continued to be thorns in the Establishment’s side – throughout war and austerity – for the next five decades.
402 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 13, 2022
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January 31, 2023
Evelyn Waugh is one of my favourite authors and I have a fascination with his life, so this was a must-read for me. This is a group biography, based around members of the Hypocrites Club in Oxford, which begun in 1921 and was closed down in 1924, when a member was caught creeping into Balliol dressed as a nun after a fancy dress party. Based above a bicycle shop, this was a drinking club, begun mainly as Oxford undergraduates were forbidden to visit pubs.
Members included writers Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, Henry Green, travel writer Robert Byron, journalist Claud Cockburn, those who Waugh based fictional characters on, such as Harold Acton and Brian Howard, as well as future MP's and professors. As young men, many were notorious and disinterested in their studies. However, they were also intelligent, well-connected, often ambitious and born within a period of history which meant they lived through two world wars. They may have been too young to fight in WWI, but they certainly, like their entire generation, saw the aftermath and most participated in WWII. As they aged, the members became a mutual aid club, often bickering and disliking each other, but publicly usually supportive of each others work.
This was a very enjoyable read, looking at the members of this club. Of early promise, which sometimes turned into success and sometimes failure. It is also the history of a time and a place. Of a period when the aristocracy had their last hurrah, before time and taxes reduced many to a far lesser standard of living. Of political extremes between the wars, of the rise of fascism, the flirtation with communism, of a group of young men trying to find their place in the world and of their influence and the work many left behind.
Members included writers Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, Henry Green, travel writer Robert Byron, journalist Claud Cockburn, those who Waugh based fictional characters on, such as Harold Acton and Brian Howard, as well as future MP's and professors. As young men, many were notorious and disinterested in their studies. However, they were also intelligent, well-connected, often ambitious and born within a period of history which meant they lived through two world wars. They may have been too young to fight in WWI, but they certainly, like their entire generation, saw the aftermath and most participated in WWII. As they aged, the members became a mutual aid club, often bickering and disliking each other, but publicly usually supportive of each others work.
This was a very enjoyable read, looking at the members of this club. Of early promise, which sometimes turned into success and sometimes failure. It is also the history of a time and a place. Of a period when the aristocracy had their last hurrah, before time and taxes reduced many to a far lesser standard of living. Of political extremes between the wars, of the rise of fascism, the flirtation with communism, of a group of young men trying to find their place in the world and of their influence and the work many left behind.
Displaying 1 of 1 review